Don't Be Taken In
     Live Free
By Curt Wikstrom

Don't be taken in.
      Those who want to "fundamentally change" or destroy America now have control over most of the media, our large businesses, sports, and schools.  The news is heavily biased, and we very seldom get an honest picture of what is happening.
     Organizations like the world economic forum use new words to influence our thinking.  Instead of equality, they use words like "equity".  Other words are "inclusion" and "diversity".  There is a sinister purpose behind this language, it is to cloth their new ideology in such a way that it will be more acceptable to the general public and fool us into thinking that it Is all innocent.  They are trying to force us to give up our decency and do away with merit.  And they use force to silence those who disagree with them.   Those who won't use "woke" words are often fired.  Students in classes and military personnel are required to call people by their "preferred" gender pronouns rather than by their biological gender, or they will be kicked out of class or kicked out of the army.  The same is true in many "woke" corporations.  It is not enough to scold people who refuse to use the language of the left, they are terminated.  We are no longer supposed to work and study hard to achieve results based on effort, but to get equality of results.
      Critical race theory was developed by a Marxist professor.  One of his students was Obama.  Marx himself wrote about critical theory. It is part of their strategy to destroy western culture. Children should be taught to accept others. The notion that all white children are inherently "racist" is more than harmful.  It is evil. And we should not tolerate it in our schools.
     Children are very easy to manipulate.  If we train them to be homosexuals or transgenders, that is what they will be. We have a moral duty to train our little boys to grow up to be men, and our little girls to grow up to be women.  We must fight back when the Democrats try to force us to give our children up to those who have serious problems with their sexuality.  It is those people with problems who need to change, not us. And women's sports were developed for a reason, because men and women have innate differences.  To force men into women's sports is evil.  We should fight back, and not accept this perversity. Part of the reason Tim Walz was chosen as the Democratic vice presidential candidate was that he signed a bill allowing the disfigurement of children who have not even reached the age of puberty.  Children should not be cut up and castrated before they even reach puberty.  We have to be morally sick to vote for such people.  Children belong to their parents, not to the schools.  We should not permit schools or doctors to make decisions for our children without contacting and getting approval from the parents.
     Some of the most unfair laws being passed are those that give reparations to black people.  As is true of most people, my grandparents did not even come over to America until slavery was ended.  All my life I have been for legal equaility for all races.  More than1/2 million Repulibans gave their lives to end slavery.  The Democrats ran the South, and they are the ones who owned slaves, and they are the party that discriminated against blacks after slavery was ended.  Yet the Democrats try to buy black votes with "reparations".  Black  people should not be taken in.  Don't vote for the party of slavery and reparations, vote for the party of freedom and accountability for all.  Everyone should have the right to work hard and succeed.  No one should live off of the rest of us by selling their votes.  And remember, when you sell your votes, the party you vote for ends up owning you.

     We are being monitored when we browse the web, and the search engines are programmed so that we get the Democratic viewpoint first.  We have to search diligently to get other viewpoints, though they are there, since all of the web is available to those who know the sites that they want.  Those who listen to the "mainstream" media all day are indoctrinated, and have begun to believe the ideology that is behind it all.  Google and Facebook have admitted that they have worked with the Democrats to doctor information before elections.  And Zuckerberg has given millions of dollars to get out the vote, as have other millionaires.  And getting out the vote usually means ballot harvesting.
     Some states have ended the requirement to have an id to vote.  This is also an attempt to get people to vote who are otherwise not eligible.  Just a couple million illegal aliens who have been let into the country will be enough to win elections, unless a lot of us change our vote from democrat to republican this year.  Biden is even giving illegals plane rides or bus rides into the country.
     Donald Trump is the perfect example of how the media works.  They are constantly calling him a "liar".  But it is them who are lying.  Read the articles and books by Sharyl Attkisson to understand how we are being manipulated.  Go to her website at https://sharylattkisson.com/  and to read of the many lies about Trump go to:
https://sharylattkisson.com/2024/08/50-media-mistakes-in-the-trump-era-the-definitive-list/    
     Biden deliberately lies about trump.  For example, while Trump has not condemned peaceful demonstrators, he has condemned the KKK many times.  Yet Biden and the Democrat media knowingly repeat the lie that he believes many in the KKK are ok. Biden and the media constantly say that Trump lies.  But if you research the so-called lies, like I have, you will find that they usually have distorted what he has said.  If you watched the debates carefully you could see how the moderators were deliberately working to support the Democrat candidate.  They do not tell you any of the bad news about the Democrats, and they are constantly misstating what Trump or Vance say.  Stop listening to them and get the news where you can read or hear what the candidates actually said, not the distorted misquotes that the press wants you to believe.
     The world is only safe when the U.S. is strong and resolute.  But it has gotten weak and controlled by the "woke".  China now has a larger Navy than the US and they have been grooming our Democrat politicians. Biden and his son have gotten millions from them.  China and a number of billionaires have been buying up the land in America.  And China has been penetrating the south China seas. China is likely to take over Taiwan in the next few months, and then will be going after the Philippines.  They took over Hong Kong and other free areas with nothing more than complaints from the West.
      After winning the war in Vietnam, America simply pulled its troops out, and the south ran out of ammunition as the once defeated North came down south. After having defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan, we simply pulled out, leaving billions of dollars' worth of machines and ammunition to the Taliban.  Girls are no longer allowed to go to school, and are again treated like second class citizens.  If the U.S. stands by and lets the communist powers take over most of the world, eventually they will defeat us in battle too, if they they don't take us over from within.
      Hezbollah has bombed Isreal for many years, but when Isreal fought back and destroyed their bomb sites, Biden scolded them and withheld American aid. Biden and Harris want a two-state solution, one state full of hatred and wanting to exterminate Isreal. We should never allow a state to be controlled by hatred.  We should use every opportunity to eliminate dictators who advocate hatred  and help assure that all countries have republics where the people are free to think and to disagree.
     Biden has tossed out the American policy restricting Iran, so Iran has billions of dollars to supply Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis with ammunition to attack Isreal.  Isreal cannot simply shoot down all of the missiles sent into it.  It must destroy those who hate it and their missiles to survive.   And, because of Biden's allowing it, Iran is once again close to having a nuclear weapon. Having nuclear weapons in a country full of hatred means we will eventually have nuclear war.  In fact, we should not be surprised if their agents bring some into America to destroy a few of our cities.  Will  it really take that to finally wake us up, and cause us to finally fight back?  Iran should never be allowed to have nuclear weapons, and what they have developed should be destroyed.
     There were a few people who got out of hand in Washington on January 6^th.   Trump asked them to be peaceful, and to make sure it was peaceful he offered both Nancy Pelosi, and the mayor of Washinton D.C. additional troops to make sure everything was calm.  But they turned him down, as Pelosi admitted.  And as a consequence some people did cause problems.  But to call it an insurrection is dishonest.  Harris and others have donated money to help get people out of jail who detroyed significant parts of major cities, like Minneapolis, and other cities throughout the US.  But no buildings were bombed or distroyed and the protest did not last for more than a few hours on Jan 6.  But several people have been in jail for years without a hearing who do not deserve to be there.  This is a real travesty of justice. The willingness of Democrats to fire people who disagree with them, or even put them in jail, should not be tolerated.  They need to be voted out of office, so they understand that they can't get away with calling a protest an insurrection, they can't put men in women's sports, they can't teach our children that all white people are inherently racist, they can't cut up and castrate young children who haven't even reach puberty, they can't control our media, and they can't monitor us on the web.  The lawfare that the current administration has used against its political opponents must stop.
     Washington state Democrats continue to do whatever they can to increase taxes, and take away our right to initiatives.  We should suport all initiatives on the ballot this year,once again repealing the capital gains tax, repeal laws that take away our rights to purchase gas, and that give politicians control over us by claiming to fight climate change. We should keep a right to opt out of their socialist health care plans and make those decisions for ourselves.  It is time for those who continue to vote for initiatives that prevent the Democrats from destroying our freedoms to vote the Democrats out.  Bob Ferguson has fought for years to take our initiative process away, and we need to make sure he does not become governor.  We should not continue to vote for initiatives, and for those who would end our right to initiatives.

      This may be the last election where voters who are finally fed up can switch their votes and save our republic.  We must defeat the Democrats so completely that they understand that they can't support evil and still get our votes. We must vote them out whether they are running for President, Governor, Senator, Representative, county council, school board member, or whatever.  That is the only way that we can show them that we will no longer tolerate their destructive behavior.

 For how to vote in Washington read Cindy's picks.

Cindy's Picks for General Election 2024
Short Answer:
I-2066: YES
I-2109: YES
I-2117: YES
I-2124: YES
SJC Prop. 1: NO
President/VP: Donald J. Trump/Chris Vance
US Senator: Dr. Raul Garcia
Cong. District 2, US Rep. : Cody Hart
Governor: Dave Reichert
Lt. Governor: Dan Matthews
Sec. of State: Dale Whitaker
State Treasurer: Sharon Hanek
State Auditor: Matt Hawkins
Attorney General: Pete Serrano
Commissioner of Public Lands: ? Butler?
Superintendent of Public Instruction: David Olson
Insurance Commissioner: Phil Fortunato
State Senator: Charles Carrell
State Rep 1&2: Anybody but the candidate listed
County Council Residency District 1: Stephanie O'Day
County Council Residency District 2: Justin Paulson
Supreme Court Justice Position 2: Dave Larson
Long Answer:
     I-2066 - Stop the Ban of Natural Gas: YES This initiative stops the state from allowing or forcing Puget Sound Energy to begin dropping customers of natural gas, thereby forcing those customers to convert their homes to electricity costing massive $$$$. Natural gas is probably the cleanest form of energy as its byproduct is water. But the Democrat Legislature and Democrat Inslee have decided they want everyone on electricity. When we get a northeaster blowing and demands for electricity outstrip the production capabilities we currently have they do not seemed concerned that people will be freezing without their alternative sources of heat. This is a terrible bill the Democrats passed and it needs to be undone by voting YES to stop the ban.
   I -2109 Stop the Excise Tax : YES Proponents of this tax say it is only a tax on the rich. But what it really is is an Unconstitutional (from the WA State Constitution, making income taxes illegal in this state) tax on income. The tax circumvents the law by being called an "excise tax" on capital gains. The IRS calls capital gains income, and taxes that income. The trouble with this tax is that while it currently is a tax only on the rich (and all of the rich folks are bailing out of WA...Microsoft is moving, google is moving, amazon is not locating here, Boeing is leaving...etc) the left never leaves it just on the rich. If they are allowed to get away with this "tax" they will adjust it down year by year until you are paying the "excise" tax on your income. That's what progressives do. So vote YES to stop this unconstitutional money grab.
     I-2117 Stop the Hidden Gas Tax: YES This "Carbon" scheme has done nothing to reduce carbon emissions other than making people drive less. It has greatly increased the cost of all goods including groceries which need to be transported by truck to our stores and it has increased the price of our gas to the highest in the nation. The money from this tax has not been used to scientifically do anything to reduce carbon in the air. This tax is not dedicated to any special fund for transportation, or cleaning air, or any other needs in the state. It is part of the great slush fund that funds multiple "studies" trying to get scientific evidence for the left's schemes, like the multiple studies done showing that fish are not affected by dams. They keep funding new studies to try to get evidence that dams do reduce the return of fish. (btw, the fish runs are great this year!!!) Vote YES on this initiative to stop this expensive nonsense.
     I-2124 Long Term Health Care Tax: YES WA Cares is the state's one-size-fits-all solution to long-term care that requires a 10 year continuous pay-in period in order to receive a $36,500 lifetime benefit. That would pay for about 5 months of long term care before being maxed out. Surely there are better programs out there if people would like long term health care. Give people the option to get out of this expensive tax on their pay check. They should be able to decide for themselves which insurance program fits them the best. Vote YES to allow people to opt out.
For more information about these State Initiatives, go to https://letsgowashington.com/
     SJC Prop. 1 Land Bank Renewal: NO This program has set aside more land for preservation than Shaw Island (Shaw has about 4900 acres, the Land Bank has over 5000 acres). The Land Bank is currently double dipping collecting both the real estate excise tax and the Conservation Futures from our property taxes in SJC. If we vote to not renew the land bank, they will still be getting the conservation futures to care for the property they have already acquired. This vote would be to cut the funds for future purchases. Approximately 1/4 of all land in San Juan County is owned by federal, state, and county parks and conservation land and then open space and forest designations. We do have much of our set aside already. We do need to keep some land for people to live on to pay those taxes. It is time to shut the purchasing aspect of the Land Bank down and just enjoy the great quantity of land they already have. There is information that the Housing Real Estate Excise tax is tied to the Land Bank Real estate excise tax. This is true, but it could be redone to not be attached. This is not the reason to not shut down the land bank reduction of available land for housing. Vote NO on the Land Bank renewal.
     President/VP: Donald J. Trump/Chris Vance Do you like war? No? Then vote for Trump/Vance. We had zero wars when Trump was President because he negotiated peace and stopped the funding for terrorist organizations that are the cause of one of the wars in this world now. Do you like monster taxes? The Trump tax break that was instituted in 2016 is set to expire next year. You can bet Kamala will not be renewing those breaks. She calls them taxes on the rich, but the Trump tax break was huge for the average working family. Do you like murdering babies? Born alive babies? No? Then vote for Trump. Kamala voted twice to allow born alive babies to be neglected so they would die by voting against the "Born Alive" Act that mandated babies born alive during a botched abortion would be helped instead of just left to die. Do you want energy independence? Vote for Trump. We had achieved energy independence under Trump, which the Biden administration destroyed. Do you like manufacturing jobs in the USA? Vote for Trump. He brought back manufacturing to the USA, which Biden administration shut down. No, we had it really good when Trump was President. Let's give him the job back. Vote for Trump/Vance for President/VP!!!
     US Senator: Dr. Raul Garcia Dr. Garcia has seen the trouble with our legislation giving breaks to the pharmaceutical companies and how they are getting rich from making people sick and making them take drug after drug to fix what the previous drug messed up. Sen. Cantwell voted to let born alive babies die, Cosponsored the Equality Act which would criminalize parents, medical professionals, employees and organizations that hold Biblical views on sexuality. That's scary. Dr. Garcia would vote against such anti-religious stances and he will vote to criminalize fentanyl, protect Second Amendment rights while working to decrease shootings in schools and communities, and provide support for law enforcement in WA to help reduce the ever increasing crime rates. https://garciaforwa.com/addressing-the-issues
     Cong. District 2, US Rep. : Cody Hart Cody Hart has a background as a civil engineer, former Navy Aviation Structural Mechanic and is active in helping his county with election integrity. Cody knows the needs of WA State, unlike the incumbent who lives in DC and has no idea what WA needs…hence $5.28 million for a 10 foot wide bike path in an area that cannot support it on San Juan Island. Cody Hart will bring common sense to DC. https://codyhart.org/
     Governor: Dave Reichert Dave has the experience with reducing crime on the streets, he has the experience with legislating from his years in Congress and he has the experience in managing departments from being Sheriff of King County in WA. He has vowed to reduce the costs of transportation, thereby reducing costs for all of us in the cost of goods. His opponent has obsessively gone after a grandma florist for not making a bouquet, gone after a private citizen for 12 years, bankrupting him and forcing his family to live in a different place from him while the defendant tried to not be labeled a political action committee which is bizarre. Dave’s opponent is unstable. Vote for someone solid, vote for Dave Reichert! https://www.reichertforgovernor.com/issue
     Lt. Governor: Dan Matthews Dan Matthews is known to us in San Juan County, as he has run for US House two times from our Legislative District. Dan has served as a pilot in the Air Force, retiring as a Lt. Colonel, and knows how to handle the task of organization and leadership that the Lt. Governor needs to run the Legislature in an efficient manner. Dan Matthews is incredibly well qualified for this position and would be a great asset to our state. You can find more information about Dan Matthews at electdanmatthews.com
     Sec. of State: Dale Whitaker Our current SOS denies that there are any issues with our election system in WA State. Our mail system delivered SJC properly postmarked ballots to our SJC elections office AFTER the election had been certified over for 13 days later. 48 ballots that were properly mailed in SJC were not counted due to the fact that the post office took over 2 weeks to deliver the ballots. There are problems with the mail in ballot system. Dale Whitaker will work to fix those problems and enhance election integrity, security and transparency. We need someone like that. Vote for Dale Whitaker for SOS! https://whitakerforwa.com/priorities/
     State Treasurer: Sharon Hanek Sharon Hanek used her CPA experience to assist San Juan County
when looking at the incredible costs for Rank Choice Voting a few years ago. Her financial abilities would
work well in the position of State Treasurer as opposed to her opponent's title of lawyer. State Treasurers
should be qualified to manage money. Sharon definitely is and is a great person besides. I have worked with her and we could not ask for a better treasurer to keep track of the funds we have at state. We would not be missing 16 million dollars if we had Sharon as treasurer. Vote for Sharon Hanek for State Treasurer: https://www.sharonhanek.com/
     State Auditor: Matt Hawkins WA State auditors pointed out that 11 WA agencies misspent millions of dollars in federal covid funding. Matt Hawkins has the business experience and will improve audits to cut spending and waste resulting in saving WA citizens millions of dollars. He will perform financial, performance and compliance audits to ensure our state agencies are doing their jobs properly and efficiently. I have also worked with Matt on election integrity and the guy is really smart and incredible able to understand the complexities of the job. Vote for Matt Hawkins for Auditor: https://mchawkins.org/
     Attorney General: Pete Serrano Pete has an amazing background. He has helped clean the Hanford
waste site and is very in tune to our environmental needs while also working with the Silent Majority
Foundation to fight for our Constitutional Rights in the areas of Second Amendment rights and other personal rights that are being trampled. Pete has been looking out for citizens in WA state for years, and he is serious about reducing crime in WA state for your children and his. Let's give him the job to make a difference. Vote for Pete Serrano for Attorney General! https://serranoforag.com/issues/
     Commissioner of Public Lands: ? Butler? This is a hard one for me. Sue Keuhl Pederson lost the primary by 51 votes. Butler, though listed as a Republican, voted to impeach Donald Trump. It is really hard to support her. But we do need someone to manage our public lands. Sue was very well qualified for the position. I have no idea what Butler's qualifications for this job are, other than her opponent would pull even more land out of harvesting increasing the chances for more wildfires. Her opponent claims the older growth areas are more important for trapping carbon when we all know that the younger faster growing forests trap carbon faster than the older growth areas do. Jamie promises to harvest the timber responsibly to bring in revenue for the schools. This is what is needed for our public lands. Here's hoping she follows through with what she promises.
     Superintendent of Public Instruction: David Olson David Olson would do a great job as Superintendent of Public Instruction. Dave's background in the military as a diver has given him a raspy voice, but his discipline and passion are unmatched in pursuing excellence for the education of the kids in his area. He is passionate about bringing our kids' education levels up to be among the best in the nation. He wants to get back to the core topics to be taught in schools, not the agendas that most schools are following these days. Olson's opponent who is currently Superintendent of Public schools has falsely claimed federal law allows schools to lie to parents about their children's gender choices. He worked with Ferguson to get SB5722 passed in WA
which made gender counseling illegal. Their reasoning was because suicide rates were so high among young
people. Yet with this law, WA state ranks 48th and 49th with the worst rates of suicide and depression among
young people in the nation! Without gender counseling, children are not getting the help they need with the underlying problems they have. For more information see the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjfVROwLYxc David Olson would stop that nonsense and get back to teaching kids about math and science and reading. Vote for David Olson for our kids' futures! Electdavidolson.com
     Insurance Commissioner: Phil Fortunato Phil Fortunato is excited to become our Insurance Commissioner. He is excited to make changes to our insurance scene in the state The current commissioner has set archaic rules for insurance in WA state not allowing interstate competition, that has driven up prices and decreased competition. Phil would love to change those rules to allow interstate insurance competition that would immediately begin to lower our insurance prices. Phil has currently served 8 years in the WA State Legislature and knows the ins and outs of government rules and regulations. Ready for Day One, vote for Phil Fortunato for Insurance Commissioner: https://www.votefortunato.org/
     State Senator: Charles Carrell Charles is a former Marine who works in the Snohomish County Sheriffs office. That's all I know about him, since he raises no money to run against his opponent. However, those two qualifications are enough for me to prefer him over the incumbent who has supported all of the bills the above Initiatives would repeal. She has never worked for the people of WA state but is working to advance the left's agenda. Please vote for Carrell.
    State Rep 1&2: Anybody but the candidate listed
    County Council Residency District 1: Stephanie O'Day Stephanie O'Day is actually incredibly well qualified to serve as our county commissioner. She is a land use lawyer who has worked to help citizens of SJC navigate through the permit acquiring part of their house building. The land use permit department is a nightmare to get an actual permit and Stephanie knows that more than most people, and how to fix it. We could not ask for a better candidate to be in this position. Her opponent was a school superintendent in CA and was fired (she says quit, but she hasn't given back the severance funds for being fired) from that job and possibly other financial problems with the various school districts. So we have well qualified and hmmm, maybe we don't want to deal with those personal issues. Go with the well qualified!!! Vote for Stephanie O'Day for County Council! https://www.sjoforcountycouncil.com/
     County Council Residency District 2: Justin Paulson Both candidates have shown their Democrat leanings. Hughes is fully endorsed by all the people who have mismanaged the finances and gotten us into the terrible situation with the ferries. Paulson could have been. The biggest difference between the two is that Justin has worked in the construction business in SJC and has had to navigate the nightmare through the planning department. He knows what the working men and women of SJC deal with when dealing with the county and the frustrations associated with it. For that reason alone I recommend Justin Paulson for County Council District 2 https://paulsen4council.com/
     Supreme Court Justice Position 2: Dave Larson Dave is a constitutional lawyer, which means he actually believes in following the Constitution of the US and WA and would not try to change it by legislating or making new laws from the bench. Recent rulings by the WA State Supreme Court have been quite puzzling, calling Capital Gains taxes an "excise tax" instead of what the IRS calls capital gains taxes….a tax on income. He is a supporter of individual rights. Can you imagine someone running for this position who has never been a judge? Since he is the only actual judge in this race, I highly recommend voting for Dave Larson for Supreme Court justice. https://larsonforwa.org/